Sherrod Brown on Welfare & Poverty

	Sherrod Brown on Welfare & Poverty Democratic Sr Senator; previously Representative (OH-13)

GAIN Act: $111 billion a year for people in poverty

Sherrod Brown and Ro Khanna's GAIN Act is intended to reduce poverty. The GAIN (Grow American Incomes Now) Act ($111 billion a year) is a massive expansion of the EITC, which provides supplemental cash to low-income people who work. The GAIN Act would double or triple the EITC's benefits, depending on family size, and increase the maximum income for families to receive the credit from the mid-$40,000 range to as high as $75,000. Source: Vox.com,"5 anti-poverty plans" on 2018 Ohio Senate race , Jan 30, 2019

We have millions of families today who have zero wealth

In America today--we don't talk about this too much, but it is time we did--we have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income in the industrialized world. I haven't heard too many people talk about that issue. Why not? Our Republican colleagues want huge tax breaks for the richest people, but the reality is the top 1 percent already today owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. How much more do they want? When is enough enough? Do they want it all? We already have millions of families today who have zero wealth. They owe more than they own. Millions of families have below zero wealth. We are living in a situation where the top 1 percent owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. The top 1 percent owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. That is simply unacceptable. Source: The Speech: A Historic Filibuster, by Bernie Sanders , Dec 10, 2010

25 percent of our children are dependent on food stamps

This is something we must be absolutely ashamed about and have to address, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires. Maybe we should appreciate the fact that about 25% of our children are dependent on food stamps. We should understand that in the industrialized world, the United States has the highest rate of childhood poverty. Is this America? The United States today has over 20% of its kids living in poverty. In Finland, the number is about 2 or 3%; Norway, maybe 4%; Sweden, maybe 4.5%; Switzerland, 6%. The United States, well over 20%. The Netherlands in second place: about 7%. This is the future of America.

This is the other half of the equation. What do my colleagues think happens when we have millions of kids living in poverty? The result is, the highest rate of childhood poverty in the industrialized world, and then what we end up with is more people behind bars than any other country on Earth.

Source: The Speech: A Historic Filibuster, by Bernie Sanders , Dec 10, 2010

Increase the earned income tax credit.

Brown co-sponsored increasing the earned income tax credit

Provisions Relating to Earned Income Credit: Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the supplemental young child credit and revise and increase the earned income credit.

Source: Tax Simplification Act (H.R.13) 1993-H13 on Jan 5, 1993

Reduce the concentration of wealth & wage inequality.

Brown adopted the Progressive Caucus Position Paper:

Economic inequality is the result of two and a half decades of government policies and rules governing the economy being tilted in favor of large asset owners at the expense of wage earners. Tax policy, trade policy, monetary policy, government regulations and other rules have reflected this pro-investor bias. We propose the introduction or reintroduction of a package of legislative initiatives that will close America’s economic divide and address both income and wealth disparities.

Reducing wage inequality: We are proposing initiatives to both raise the minimum wage floor and prevent the tax code from subsidizing excessive compensation.
Asset-building initiatives: The government has historically given land to citizens. Unfortunately, the programs were discriminatory toward people of color and kept a whole generation of people off the asset-building train. We are proposing a universal asset building approach that will dramatically reduce the number of “asset less” households and reduce the disparity of wealth for all Americans.
Addressing the over concentration of wealth and power: The concentration of wealth is a problem because it distorts our democracy, destabilizes the economy and erodes our at our social and cultural fabric. Too much concentrated wealth leads to too much concentrated power and begins to undermine our participatory democracy.

After a decade of economic prosperity, the moral question remains: if we can’t address the persistent economic divide in our nation today, when can we? Source: CPC Position Paper: Income Inequality 99-CPC3 on Nov 11, 1999